小畜 → 臨
Hexagram 9: Small Taming → Hexagram 19: Approach
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 5, 6).
Line 3
九三 輿說輻。夫妻反目。
Nine in the third place means: The spokes burst out of the wagon wheels. Man and wife roll their eyes.
Line 5
九五 有孚攣如。富以其鄰。
Nine in the fifth place means: If you are sincere and loyally attached, You are rich in your neighbor.
Line 6
上九 既雨既處。尚德載。婦貞厲。月幾望。君子征凶。
Nine at the top means: The rain comes, there is rest. This is due to the lasting effect of character. Perseverance brings the woman into danger. The moon is nearly full. If the superior man persists, Misfortune comes.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
子啼索哺，母行求食；反見空巢，長息訾弋。
The chick cries out for food; the mother goes out to forage. Returning to find an empty nest; she sighs long and grieves.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind above heaven opens into earth overseeing the lake — the image of a superior approaching the people below. A chick cries for food; the mother bird goes out foraging. When she returns, she finds an empty nest — the young have been taken, and she sighs and laments the hunter's cruelty. From Small Taming to Approach, the transformation should embody Lin's generous oversight. Yet the verse reveals its cost: the nurturer who goes out to provide returns to find her charges gone. Approach implies drawing near with benevolent intent, but absence during the approach creates a fatal gap. The mother's departure was an act of love; the empty nest is its unintended consequence. Even care must reckon with timing.
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